Close Quarters Skirmish: Unity Regulars vs. Great Mountain Veterans

I had a very long weekend, so I played another game.  This one I wasn't familiar with, but it was new (to me) so I thought I'd give it a go.  Close Quarters Skirmish from Legionnaire Games is some kind of spin-off from their board games, and is a pretty flexible sci-fi skirmish tabletop rules set.  You can build your own units, but I basically swiped some of the existing units because I'm lazy.  The game is scenario based, so I went with the smallest and easiest scenario, "Patrol".  My goal (as Unity) is to kill more points of Great Mountain guys before the end of the 4th turn.  Unity had 16 Regular figures at 99 points, and Great Mountain had 8 Veteran figures at 88 points.

The table setup

Four Unity Rifle Fire Teams. Three Regulars and a SAW Gunner

Two Great Mountain Veteran Fire Teams.  Three Veterans and a Veteran SAW

Turn 1

Couplet 1

The turns are divided into four "couplets", where some of your guys get to act.  For a small game like this, it's 1d4 figures per side.  The GM side gets 4, but I only get one.  So then we mark the guys we want to have act as "active".  I have the initiative, so my guy spends an action to Move.  Then, all of the GM guys spend an action to Move.  I don't have anything better to do, so I spend the Unity figure's remaining action to Move into cover.  The GM troops spend all of their second actions to Move, and then, being better then me, they spend their THIRD actions to Move again!

Now at the end of the couplet, everybody who acted gets marked as Complete.

One lonely guy moves

Four GM units move THREE times!

Couplet 2

GM gets 2 activations this time, and Unity gets 1 again.  We alternate spending actions, and I move a Unity SAW Gunner up with the Unity Regular, and GM moves two of its figures three times, up to the ladder on the back of the nearby building.

He gets a friend!

Planning to go over the top

Couplet 3

GM gets 2 again, and Unity gets 4 this time.  Finally!  The remaining GM forces move up to the ladder, and one of my Unity teams moves up behind cover.

Actually, I cheated, briefly.  This is one of those games where you can't pre-measure.  I tried to take a shot with that one guy, but he was just outside of his carbine's 18 inch range, so his shot and his action are wasted. :(

Ok, on "three"...

Pew Pew Pew!  No range, sir!

Last Call Couplet

This is basically just like the others, but you can't take Leader actions, and you get a recovery check for Unconscious units.  But that's not useful just yet.  GM is out of guys, but Unity gets another 4.  I move another team forward, and the SAW Gunner takes a shot at the distant GM troops.  Well, d3 shots, actually, because it's a Squad Automatic Weapon, though they have to target different figures within 2 inches of each other.

The SAW has a d10 attack die.  The GM troops have Defense 4, +2 for being in cover, +2 for intervening terrain, and +1 for Stealthy for a total of 9.  Tough shot.  On top of that, the SAW Gunner gets -1 for shooting around a corner.  So, basically, impossible at this point.  I'm rolling anyway, to illustrate.

d10-1(2) - DEF(9) = -7 (MISS)!
d10-1(8) - DEF(9) = -1 (So close)!

Kind of a long shot

You can see that LoS goes over that car

Score
Unity: 0 - Great Mountain: 0

Turn 2

Couplet 1

Two Unity troopers move to come around the back of the apartment building.  The GM Saw Gunner moves up behind a car, and opens fire.  As a Veteran, he gets +1 on the combat tables, too.

d10+1(2) - DEF(4) = -2 (MISS)!
d10+1(10) - DEF(6) = 4 (Stun + 3 Wounds)!

Splat!  The guy behind cover only has 2 Wounds and is KIA (and Stunned, I suppose).

d10+1(6) - DEF(4) =  (Stun + 2 Wounds)!

The other Unity grunt, standing out in the open like a moron, is also KIA. :(

I'm not using Morale rules, so at least I don't have to deal with that, too.

Trying to be sneaky

Veteran SAW Gunners are pretty nasty

Just ask these gu... er, this guy

Couplet 2

One of the GM Veterans runs across the street, and the Unity Saw Gunner advances and fires at the GM SAW Gunner, who is mostly exposed.

d10(1) - DEF(5) = -4 (MISS)!

The SAW's extra shot is wasted because there's only one target.

The other two Unity troopers advance to cover and one fires his carbine over the crater at the GM SAW Gunner, taking him out (KIA)!

d10(10) - DEF(6) = 4 (Stun + 3 Wounds)!

Revenge!

Couplet 3

A Unity trooper runs out into the open (this is why we can't have nice things) and is opened up on by a GM Veteran, but is saved by the intervening terrain!  The same can't be said for the GM unit's teammate, who finishes the Unity trooper off (KIA)!

d10+1(6) - DEF(6) = 0 (MISS)!
d10+1(10) - DEF(7) = 3 (Stun + 2 Wounds)!

Dummy

Having taken down their target, the two GM units hop over the barricade and run across the street.
Behind them, two of the GM troops climb the ladder of the building and run across the roof to the other edge.

At least they used the crosswalk.  Safety first!

Last Call Couplet

Nobody is living long enough to be stunned, so we just keep going.
Four Unity troops still hiding behind the noodle shop finally rush forward, and the remaining GM troops climb the building and move across the roof to shoot at the trooper behind the apartment.  Their elevated position lets them ignore some terrain, but one guy is still trying to shoot past the edge of the building.

Like well-armed ducks

Isn't the view from here romantic, Dave?

d10+1(4) - DEF(4) = 0 (MISS)!
d10+1(7) - DEF(5) = 2 (Stun and 1 Wound)!

That Unity guy is Stunned!  And because he's at half health, he's also Wounded, meaning he only gets one action each turn.

Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!

Score
Unity: 11 - Great Mountain: 18

Turn 3

Couplet 1

A Unity Saw Gunner fires at two of the GM units on the roof. His d3 result is 2, so he can target both.  The SAW Gunner is cornering, and the Veterans are behind cover, so it's actually a tough shot, and he misses both. :(

This is apparently the place to be for successfully shooting things

That same GM Veteran shoots at the nearby Unity SAW Gunner cornering nearby, but also misses.

And another GM Veteran takes out the wounded Unity guy from before, doing 5 Wounds (KIA).

The cornering Unity Saw Gunner fires back, but only gets one shot.  He misses.

The other Unity Saw Gunner fires again, and misses twice, again. :(
Great Mountain Veteran troops are the worst!

The GM guy on the roof fires two more times at the Unity SAW Gunner, killing him with the second shot (KIA).

I can't see through the giant face!

The two GM Veterans who ran across the street take up positions behind a barricade and manage to murder two Unity troopers, just like that, leaving them time to shoot the guy that was coming up behind them, too! :(

Serious professionals

Where did that guy think he was going?

Couplet 2

The Unity troops advance, and trade fire, failing to hit anything, but the GM guy on the roof kills another Unity trooper! Q.Q

God bless them, they're trying their best

Couplet 3

There's a whole lot of shooting, but Unity only manages to Stun one of the guys on the roof.  Meanwhile, the GM unit by the police station doors kills a Unity SAW Gunner and wounds (and stuns) another Unity trooper.

Last Call Couplet

Everybody's done, and nobody's unconscious, so we move onto the next turn! (Not that I'm likely to suddenly turn this around. :(

Unity: 11 - Great Mountain: 62

Turn 4

Couplet 1

Desperate, a couple of Unity troops with good positions fire, and manage to kill one of the GM guys on the roof.
However, the GM troops also kill a Unity trooper, and multi-stun another, knocking him Unconscious, luckily causing him to slump out of sight behind the garbage that he was using as cover.

Well, that's two, at least

Couplet 2

One of the Unity guys that I have left to activate has Stun markers (and is Unconscious), so his only action is to Recover.  Three Stuns means I need a 6 or better on a d6 to remove all Stun.  A '1' isn't good enough, and that guy continues his nap.  The Unity SAW Gunner misses twice, which is unfortunate, because he is immediately shot in the face, causing him to die (KIA).  His murderer then runs down the stairs, looking for more blood.  The other guy on the roof kills the other Unity trooper visible on the ground, and then heads for the stairs as well!

Couplet 3

The last Unity trooper on his feet comes screaming around the corner, blasting away at the guy on the stairs... and completely misses!

Do you think God came down and stopped the bullets?

Last Call Couplet

Nobody left to do anything.  The Unconscious guy does get a free chance to wake up, but apparently thinks better of it.

That's the end of the game, and I failed, HARD!

Unity: 22 - Great Mountain: 84

So, I didn't make full use of all of the optional rules, or even rules for leaders and vehicles and stun weapons and such.  I also didn't get into any close quarters combat, ironically.  It's hard to say when playing solo, but it seemed like a good time.  I was interested in what was happening each turn, and I like the way that cover works.

It's hard to say with just a single solo game, but it seems pretty fun.  Some of the organization and terminology took a while to suss out, but I think I got it right.  And there were a couple "See page XXX", which seems like an unforgivable oversight in a print on demand product. But whatever.

So there you go.  Thanks for stopping by.

- Jason "Ludanto" Smith C;E